The Old Walking City: The Urban Core The oldest Canadian and American cities were founded during colonial times. At that time, cities were small enough for people to get around by horse or on foot. Homes and workplaces were in one compact geographic area. Because of the high cost of building materials, the front room of a home often served as the owner’s workplace. Today that old “walking city” is a city’s urban core. People often think of this urban core as their city’s “downtown” or business district.

By the 1890s, many cities were bursting at their seams with residents. Around that time, electric streetcars and commuter rail lines were developed. People began to build homes near the rail lines, taking trains or streetcars into the city center to work and shop. As a result, the urban core began to bulge outward along rail lines.